Japonic language

The Japonic languages or Japanese-Ryukyuan languages are terms used by linguists who hypothesize a language family that descended from a common ancestral language known as Proto-Japonic or Proto-Japanese-Ryukyuan. The essential feature of this hypothesis is that the first split in the family resulted in the separation of all dialects of Japanese proper from all dialects of Ryukyuan. Some linguists reserve judgment on this point because much is still unknown about the history of the settlement of the Ryukyu islands by the ancestors of their current inhabitants (when each island was settled, and where each group came from). In their view, the term Proto-Japanese is preferable until clearer evidence on these questions emerges.
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